Tooth shade perceptibility of undergraduate students, house surgeons and postgraduate residents

ABSTRACT

The objective of the study was to assess the shade perception abilities of undergraduate students in comparison to house surgeons and postgraduate residents on the basis of their clinical experience and technical education and training received on tooth shade selection. For this, a cross-sectional comparative study was carried out on a sample of 80 subjects, equally divided into two groups Group I included undergraduate students and Group II included graduates doing house job or postgraduate training. All subjects were randomly divided into two further groups the ET-group, which received proper education and training in shade selection; the non-ET-group, which did not receive such education. A shade selection exercise was devised using two Vitapan Classical shade guides. The number of correct matches established the participant's score, which was used in data analysis through the Chi-square test. Only 10 participants scored the maximum of 4 points including 2 students of Group I [2.5%] and 8 postgraduate residents of Group II [10.0%]. All of them belonged to the ET-group, which was a significant finding [P<0.05]. It was concluded that clinical experience and technical education and training received enables the observer to perform better at shade selection